Phuket hotel:
Singapore overnight hotel: Upgraded room I could live in:
Kathmandu:
I did not have long in Kathmandu, a place living by the seat of its pants in a complicated web of politics, social tradition and poverty. Colourful in some streets, dire in the next. I bought an airline ticket to Pokhara and they don't even tell you what time it leaves... when you go back to ask, they all look at each other as if you have a hole going through the middle of your head. "If you miss this one you just get another" they suggest as if I have nothing better to do.
It is actually my second, and last day here. I flew in yesterday morning,
arrived just after noon, found 300 people pretending to be the pick up driver for Gap Adentures, after fighting them off, I got my own cab, as frankly that was sad. Now late, I found Kumar waiting at the hotel. Waiting is a hobby in Nepal. So we went off to see some sights, pictures as below.
Hanuman the monkey god:
The funeral pyres were going on the side of the river - the smoke was greasy and thick and it blows right over you. The fact that there is people in that smoke did not escape me. You can see the families giving a face or foot wash down below. It is capitvating and yet repelling, all at the same time. Such private moments of grief just seem misplaced in public. Kathmandhu sits in a valley, it has dry dust, smoke, pollution that cannot blow away and far too many people. The noise is incredible. For all you get used to the idea that all is worn down, something jumps out of the woodwork, usually colourful and looking for money.
Some yogi, who is in a sect I cannot pronounce, was looking for a donation. Devoid of most clothes, they have, he says, chosen to live a lifestyle on a path to Nirvana. Their means of doing it is tying larger and larger weights to the end of their penis - and I am not kidding. I am not sure what this proves, they are convinced this is super human ability that comes with great meditation and practice. Whilst not being qualified to argue, all I can suggest is good luck. After all, the fact that they can do it and nothing rips off is in my estimation, great fortune and little more, but on the other end of the equation, I am not so sure I wish to give to cash to people who want to eat on the street at my expense, and other than sleeping all they wish to do is tie weights to their wing wang. Talk about alternative liefstyles. I decided to walk away when the talk turned to balancing his body weight on his... you guessed it...
I did double check with Kumar that was what I thought he said, he had. Kumar said yes, my hearing is perfect.
And with that, I bought a Buddhist singing bowl, and went back to the hotel to meet the Gap group. We went out for dinner a quick drink and then it was bed. They seem a jolly group, 10 in total which is large for these adventure groups, Austria, Scotland, Norway, the USA all represented.
The night was a broken sleep night, not sure why, but my sleep was not so good. I did have to get up in the morning, Sunday, for a morning flight past Everest. This country has long power outages, so as soon as I stepped out of the shower, the light went out. Pitch black. Fortunately within 3 minutes a generator fired up, or I'd be wearing mis-matched socks at the least... had provisional bookings with Yeti, then Buddha airlies. I ended up with Agni Air, on a 30 seater Jetstream and I can honestly say Agni Air are awful. Because of the mountain flight I also had to book a ticket from Kathmandhu to Pokhara to join the Gap group. They left in a bus that morning whilst I was waiting for fog to lift at the airport. Anyway, mountain flight went reasonably well, no dire misery, I went up to the cockpit quickly, took a couple of shots. I did see everest, but I think the pictures need a retouch and crop. The passenger windows had a slight tint. It was an hour, it was enough, looks better climbing I am sure, but this is probably as good as I will ever see.
This last one is Everest, and it is easy spotted because of the snow blowing off top and the dark, rectangular Toblerone shape at the peak.
After that, it was 10:30am ! So we went Bhaktapur, a famous old place and UN heritage site with Kumar and my hired driver. Temples, old streets and the original Kama Sutra shown as scultpres around one temple. Why? Well Buddhist and Hindu cultures don't have the same idea of sex as the Christian world so why not I guess, and second, in these religions sex is a heavenly thing. At the height of the sex act, consciousness is lost. Since Nirvana is out of human consciousness, then at this moment you see Nirvana. Check with Paris Hilton, I am sure she has been to Nirvana a lot.
Kama Sutra as below...
The flight to Pokhara was fun, they spent an hour trying to repair it, a man had an epileptic fit in the waiting hall, crowds gathered and it was all very silly, poor guy. Anway the plane finally launched, it was 1 hour in turbo prop or 30 minutes by jet, this flight an hour later than the one I had planned, took 25 minutes. In flight drink service was from a 2 litre bottle of coke. Arrived in Pokhara, met the group and went for supper.
Oh and this is the purchase I had to make but should not have. It's a circle of life Mandehla by a Lama. They have some beautiful pieces but the really good ones do not come cheap. Still, they are amazing. The one I really wanted I could not justify, but if you have 1200 USD handy it is truly stunning quality.
In the circle is the struggle of life, out of the circle is Nirvana. Paris Hilton is often out of the circle, lucky bugger...
Seeing some of Pokhara is for day 2. Oh look, the power just went out...again. I wonder if it's only for a few hours this time...
- BlogPressed from my iPad. Click on picture for larger image and gallery.
